Monastery of Santo Spirito

At a glance. This 1299 monastery located in the heart of the Historic Center offers a rare tranquility. Did you know it houses the ghost of noble Costanza Chiaramonte and that Cistercian nuns still prepare the rare “sweet couscous”? Find it on the map and read more below!

Good to know. Built at the end of the 13th century by the Chiaramonte family, the most influential noble house of its era in Sicily, the Monastery of Santo Spirito is one of the most precious monumental sites in Agrigento’s historic center. Crossing the doorway, an evocative open-air corridor leads you to the cloister with its charming garden. There, immersed in an almost surreal quiet, you can admire the façade of the Chapter House with its refined double-arched windows and pointed doorways, the Chapel,which still displays parts of its original architectural structure, and the Refectory. The superb arches of the Monastery of Santo Spirito are in the “Chiaramonte” style, an architectural synthesis that brings together Norman and Swabian orders. The zig-zag motifs, known as bâtons brisés, and the small columns decorated with foliage recall the Norman style, while the austere pointed arch reflects the Gothic-Swabian tradition.

The Chiaramontes were nobles of Norman origin, belonging to the French house of Clermont, and were close to the Swabian dynasty. Following the marriage of Henry VI of Swabia and Constance of Hauteville, the Norman and Swabian dynasties united, a union that gave birth to Frederick II, known as Stupor Mundi for his gifts as a mediator between different civilizations in Sicily, a wise ruler, and an enlightened patron. Through this original architectural style that bears their name, the Chiaramontes perhaps sought to embody the values and history of the Norman-Swabian dynasty to which they felt connected as rightful heirs.

This powerful family exerted its influence not only through military force, strategic political alliances, and noble marriages, but also through the construction of elegant churches and imposing edifices that consolidated their social and political standing. The construction of the magnificent Monastery of Santo Spirito was commissioned by Rosalia Prefoglio, known as Marchisia, an Agrigentine noblewoman married to Frederick I Chiaramonte. From this union sprang the dynasty that effectively ruled the island for nearly a century, a lineage whose genealogy is clearly outlined on a display panel in the medieval room of the MUDIA museum alongside period artifacts.

In 1299, Marchisia Prefoglio donated the building to the Cistercian order and retired there after becoming a widow. The monastery educated local noblewomen and offered refuge to wealthy widows or repudiated wives, including Costanza Chiaramonte, a niece of Marchisia who lost her mind after being abandoned by her husband. Her body was buried in the crypt of the Chapter House, but legend has it that her spirit still wanders through the rooms of the monument at night.

On the first floor of the monastery, you will find the former Dormitory and several frescoed rooms hosting a splendid museum collection of ceramic and stone fragments ranging from antiquity to the Middle Ages and early modern period. The so-called Abbess’s Room (or Tower Room) houses a large and impressive 15th-century wooden crucifix. On the upper floor, you can visit the ethno-anthropological section of the Civic Museum, which preserves objects and tools used in 20th-century Sicily.

As you wander through the sumptuous spaces of this monument, you might catch a whiff of delightful aromas: even today, in a section of the complex, the monastery houses a community of Cistercian nuns who balance a life of prayer with the preparation of traditional almond and pistachio pastries, as well as the rare “sweet couscous” an ancient pistachio-based delicacy made according to a secret recipe passed down orally from nun to nun through the centuries.